Sir Humphrey and Jim Hacker discuss art subsidies

[tyrannosaurusinf14]

holy crap, hacker would have been a great candidate in the american republican party

[megamarsvin]

Considering sir Humphrey's dim views on the LSE one wonders what his opinion would have been on people who attended the University of Cape Town ^^

[PondPratchettShort]

Hands up for Sir Humphrey! Save our Opera House!

[truvianni]

actually I am a huge opera fan and even wrote a book on it but I do see the Prime Minister's point as being valid

[midaoos]

This is the first time, I saw the Minister owning Humphery.Humphery on this occassion could nt circumvent the issue.

[miladydelafere]

So funny!!! This is just the same discussion that's going on right this moment in the Netherlands.



[tobyruncorn2]

YM and YPM are both works of genius. They get better with each year that passes. One can use them to explain all the rubbish that flows around one: in the office, society, banking and government. It is timeless, universal and profound. One can watch it again and again and again.To have a Japanese gentleman commenting below is evidence of its resonance.

[tnakai1971jp]

The world has lost two great characters. I am a humble uneducated Japanese but I hope I am allowed to express my respect towards Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne.

Yes Minister and Yes P Ministers actually impressed a lot of people inside and outside Britain. They did not stop as comedies. It showed tolerance and self-awareness combined with the ability to criticise the system with ample seasoning of humour and wit. Only English are capable of such great performance.

[ginger4bailey]

Love it.

[tnb35]

in this case i agree with Humphrey

[Remkoe91]

great discussion! i still think it's a difficult point. both arguments make sense.

[valeriereified]

Not a bad idea to subsidize sex, and for that matter we do, when we distribute free contraceptives to the at-risk and otherwise poor.

[TheStranglehold]

This is one of the rare occasions in which Hacker actually scores one against Humphrey.

[Darwinist]

@TheStranglehold

Indeed. It´s a joy to behold.

[MrSimonround64]

It was £30 when this episode was made... 30 years ago

[mlovecraftr]

Sir Humphrey is completely right. Football clubs and cinema have sufficient revenue to sustain themselves. Subsidies are required for services that can't sustain for themselves but are neccesary nonetheless like public transport. If I heard right the entry was 30 pounds. that doesn`t seem like so much money. With subsidies the opera was actually at a closer reach for the common man

[Myndir]

@mlovecraftr £30 isn't much today, but in 1982 that was worth about £120, which certainly wasn't affordable when you consider what most people's real incomes were back in the 1980s, especially in 1982 when there were over 3 million unemployed people.

Public money is spent on public transport precisely because there is popular demand, but a lack of purchasing power for most people who use it. On the other hand, high art has very little demand and users with a great deal of purchasing power...

[billse10]

@Myndir

as an aside, thee of us went to the Royal Opera House last year (and laughed a lot when we were there, remembering this programme!). All three of us got in for £45 in total. Not a great deal of purchasing power.

[GrandOldPete]

However, I believe Opera etc. would survive without subsidies, only those who enjoy it would have to pay more, i.e. they would have to pay for it fully by themselves instead of having other taxpayers do it for them. So the minister is right to point out that art subsidies favour the members of the elite. And I say this as an avid classical music fan.

[tomenicus]

The thing is, that people's favourites change during their lives. I know many people listening the heavy metal music in 90's, when they laugh on me listening Britten for instance, now the very same persons are asking me to borrow War Requiem for everything. And, I saw the case: The rock band was playing concert on the seaside because of some festival, then few steps away the chamber orchestra was playing some concerto, gues which performance collected bigger audience?

[GrandOldPete]

Yes, Sir Humphrey is right in one respect. Sports, film etc. don't need subsidies. The bad thing about subidies is that they distort the allocation of resources by supporting businesses which otherwise wouldn't survive, because people actually don't want them. That's why Humphrey said in this episode that subsidies are not for what the people want but what they don't want, but ought to have.

[DaniMajor]

usually I don´t agree with Humphrey but in this case I do. I mean, cinema and football are comercial shows, they move a lot of money without the subsidizes. Galleries, Opera, ballet, theatre etc. are not so commercial, are art in the true sense of word.

[Myndir]

@DaniMajor If football was subsidised by vast amounts of government money I'm sure people would regard football as "non-commercial". Furthermore, these things haven't always had subsidies: patronage by the public was good enough to produce Shakespeare. The difference, as Hacker points out in the books, is that Shakespeare was supported by a rich man choosing to spend his own money while modern theatre works by rich men choosing how to spend someone else's money.

[kelsiejackson]

BAH-LAY!

:D

[jennifersman]

"Oh could we?"

Classic Bernard!

LMAO

[swtwc]

Savagery, barbarism. The end of civilisation as we know it!

[goldijun]

lol this is so good

[brockomundo]

This is like Fraiser on intellectual steroids.

[Darwinist]

Wow, never made that connection...but it's true.

One of the best sitcoms ever.

[userblue]

Yes!

[lettucegod]

@brockomundo I disagree, I think this makes Fraiser look like Married with Children.

[svartekaptenen]

@brockomundo No it is not typical Yank arrogance, this show existed long before

Fraiser and it is so much better!

[dadarocks]

@brockomundo Well said my friend my wife makes fun of me when i say I like Frasier and yes MInister , funny and yet intellectually gratifying

[michaelbme]

I love this show!

[qw1234erty]

I agree with Sir Humphrey- bloody football.